Upanishads · Bṛhadāraṇyaka 3,9.28:8
॥
Devanāgarī
जातः एव न जायते कः नु एनम् जनयेत् पुनः विज्ञानम् आनन्दम् ब्रह्म रातिः दातुः परायणम् तिष्ठमानस्य तद्विदः इति
Transliteration (IAST)
jātaḥ eva na jāyate kaḥ nu enam janayet punaḥ vijñānam ānandam brahma rātiḥ dātuḥ parāyaṇam tiṣṭhamānasya tadvidaḥ iti
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
जातःjātaḥborn; come into being
एवevaindeed; only
नnanot; no
जायतेjāyateis born; appears
कःkaḥwho; which
नुnusurely; is it that
एनम्enamit; of this
जनयेत्janayetwho would give him birth; who would beget
पुनःpunaḥagain; once more
विज्ञानम्vijñānamwisdom; knowing
आनन्दम्ānandambliss; gladness
ब्रह्मbrahmaBrahman; the sacred reality
रातिःrātiḥa gift; generosity
दातुःdātuḥof the donor; of the giver
परायणम्parāyaṇamthe highest resort; the final goal
तिष्ठमानस्यtiṣṭhamānasyaof one standing firm (tiṣṭhamāna, gen.); abiding; of one who stands firm
तद्विदःtadvidaḥof one who knows Him (tad-vid, gen.); of one aware of That; of him who knows Him
इतिitithus; how
Translation
"He who is born is not born again — who would beget him anew? Brahman is knowledge and bliss: the highest goal of the one who gives a gift — and of the one who stands firm, and of the one who knows Him."
Version
99fd6dd90fb8 · published Jul 27, 2026, 1:09:40 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The final verse repeats the formula with an addition: Brahman is the refuge of the giver, of the tiṣṭhamāna — "the one who stands firm" (who abides with Him and does not dash about) — and of the tad-vid, "the one who knows Him". Three figures at one Refuge: the generous, the steadfast, the knowing — giving, fidelity, knowledge: three roads, one courtyard.
So closes the greatest of the brahmodyas. The night at Janaka's court has travelled from a thousand cows with gold on their horns — through death and karma, the thread and the Ruler, the Akṣara and "not so, not so" — to a two-word creed: vijñānam ānandaṁ brahma, Knowledge-and-Bliss. Gauḍīya Vedānta reads this formula as its own confession: the Last is no faceless radiance but sac-cid-ānanda — being, knowledge and bliss that have a Face; and it is no accident that beside "the knower" the verse sets "the giver": to Knowledge-and-Bliss one comes not by understanding alone — one comes by giving. Yājñavalkya took that night's thousand cows by the right of both.